My Russian is a very long way from perfect but key extracts as I understand them...

- 2 jumpers with 900 and 200 jumps were jumping from an AN2 at about 4,500 feet

- jumpers were aged 53 and 43

- 8 January is part of the long Christmas holidays in Russia

- they decided they wanted to get extended free fall time so switched off their AADs before the jump

- witnesses on the ground suggested the men started to deploy their mains at about 100m. both impacted with no mains (seems like perhaps one of the pilot chutes inflated but nothing else)

- minus 25c at ground level on the day of the jump

I don't know the DZ, the area or the jumpers. My guess would be that if this was their main dz, they would be used to jumps from a similar altitude and may not have had an awareness of how much free fall time would be "safe" from 4,500 feet. At this time of the year, the ground would most likely be covered by deep snow. whether this impacted their ability to "eyeball" the ground is not stated but could be a possibility. I have no idea whether they would be using altis.

If not used to freefall in such temperatures, it is possible that their goggles (which could be fine for delays of a few seconds) may not have been adequate for longer periods of freefall (adequate in terms of enabling them to see clearly).

In article it says most experienced skydivers. One with 200 and another with 900 jumps.. huh? They jumped at 1400m and decided to pull @ 100m. I guess they jumped Para commanders, but thats just a guess...

first jumper - canopy didn't get inflated and 2nd jumper - canopy didn't left a D-bag.

- 2 jumpers with 900 and 200 jumps were jumping from ... about 4,500 feet - they decided they wanted to get extended free fall time so switched off their AADs before the jump

low pull contest, just sayin'

we are always more "intelligent" afterwards, but it seems that as you are aware you are jumping low and that you intend to pull "lower than usual", you should have some added awareness about your altitude.

I know years back there were some real physcos that started the 1000Ft club, and held hands till underneath 1000Ft, and then only deployed. I met a few of them. Must say, they planned it well, also packed for a super fast opening, and only did it once to prove they can do it.

That's a good video of how not to do a low pull. The guy with the camera is watching his buddy too much, with a lot of snowy open field right in front of him; he takes the time to turn 90-180 degrees before deploying; and he has a nice 'modern' snivel on deployment.

I just can't imagine how anyone would think pulling that low would be a good idea. If rigged with something resembling a BASE configuration, it might be survivable at 300 to 400'. Years ago I watched a guy twice from terminal deploy at around 400', once from the airplane, once from the ground. He had Raven main, and packed to open fast. Looked damn scary to me.

Watching the video, and not understanding the commentary, I just assumed that it was file footage. Had the thought that it was pretty poor file footage, then figured out toward the bottom that it was actual impact video.

A few years ago some jumpers did a 2 point 2 way from 2 grand. One jumper's aad fired and he was severely injured landing a downplane.

Next morning I heard 2 noob jumpers discussing turning off their AAD's because they were doing hop & pops from 4500'. I told them to leave them on, of course, and if there was ever a jump where they needed to turn them off to be "safe", they should reconsider that jump.

A few years ago some jumpers did a 2 point 2 way from 2 grand. One jumper's aad fired and he was severely injured landing a downplane.

Next morning I heard 2 noob jumpers discussing turning off their AAD's because they were doing hop & pops from 4500'. I told them to leave them on, of course, and if there was ever a jump where they needed to turn them off to be "safe", they should reconsider that jump.

- 8 January is part of the long Christmas holidays in RussiaNot so long as it should have been. Pretty horrible, but I kind of agree that this should be required viewing for the "dead-zone" (50 - 1000 jump) crowd.

The following is based strictly on a translation of the news report video:

Quote:

Their fall lasted 30 seconds, falling at 50 meters per second. Eyewitnesses reported initiation of opening at approximately 70 meters. Main should be opened by at least 300 meters. They were conducting "exercise 31", which is a delayed jump. Training manual requires a delay of no more than 10 seconds when jumping from 1200m, and no more than 15 seconds when jumping from 1500m. These guys jumped from 1400m and had a 23 second delay. Cypres2 was not turned on.

pure stupidity, notjing but. 2 people dead for no reason. Clear and pull for any hop and pop if its that cold, if you have a malfunction id imagine it might be a difficult cutaway and every bit of extra time in that weather would be nice to have.

Thats why we have altimeters and ditters. and from 5k or 1200M you know you have little time to deploy regardless of any of those devices. this is a clear case of poor choices made by two jumpers that hurts the sports publicity, positive media, and now leaves two families without there loved ones.